


Parent's Day 2.0

by Neongrayy



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Bad Parenting, Child Neglect, David & Gwen Act as Max's Parental Figures (Camp Camp), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Max Needs a Hug (Camp Camp), Sad Max (Camp Camp)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 06:27:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26967463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neongrayy/pseuds/Neongrayy
Summary: Gwen and David ask Max what's wrong. Surprisingly he answers truthfully.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 176





	Parent's Day 2.0

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a small one shot but let me know what you guys think in the comments! <3

David decides he's had enough of this and he grabs Max's hand and drags him away from the burning flagpole.

"Hey! Let go of me, camp man!" Max all but hisses.

"We're going to talk," David says firmly in a tone that leaves no room for argument.

He makes eye contact with Gwen and points his thumb over to the Counselor's cabin. She nods and leaves Quarter Master and Campbell in charge (which is a horrible idea but this is serious so they must make sacrifices) and heads over to the cabin.

Once inside David asks Max where he wants to sit.

"The fucking floor." Max sneers hoping to annoy them but instead becoming surprised when David sits on the floor with his back up against the door to the cabin and when Gwen sits next to him.

So Max just says 'fuck it' and sits across from them on the floor, legs and arms crossed in a grumpy manner.

"What the fuck do you want, dumbass?" Max spits out his words like venom.

"What's wrong, Max?" David asked, ever so concerned.

And this honestly surprises Max. He was expecting to be scolded for absolutely demolishing the camp and ruining everyone's day.

"Kid, you're acting worse than the first Parent's Day. I thought you would be glad your mom showed. What's wrong?" Gwen questioned.

The counselors learned a while back that Max would wreak havoc whenever he was upset and David was not going to make the same mistake he did last Parent's Day.

Max looked absolutely stunned by this before he quickly covered up his shock with a scowl.

"Nothing is wrong." Max lies through gritted teeth.

"Bullshit." Surprisingly it's not Gwen who says this, but David.

And uh oh does Max sure as hell know what that means.

David is serious. But not just serious he's serious serious as in 'This is an issue we need to work out right now and there will be consequences if you don't just cooperate' serious.

Max sighs and allows his scowl to be replaced with a somber expression as he slouches from his previously tense posture and stares at the floor. David only cussed when he absolutely meant it. Which is something Max sort of respected? It gave his words more power and left no room for discussion. It allowed Max to know that this wasn't their usual back and forth banter. That this conversation was to be taken seriously and that meant there was no room for his Tough Guy Facade™.

Gwen was surprised that David could make Max let his guard down with a simple curse word. The two of them were known to be close in a weird complicated sort of way but this was news to her.

"It's nothing." Max quietly repeats himself.

"Max plea-" Gwen tries to reason.

"She won't even look at me." Max firmly interrupts her when he realizes they're just going to keep pestering him until they get an answer, and keeps his gaze on his shoe as he fiddles with the laces.

"What?" David questions.

"She won't look at me. I mean I was expecting her to just not look at me in the eyes like she usually does but she won't even look in my direction. She won't stop staring at her phone." Max growls, angrily glaring at his shoe as if it's the source of all his problems.

"Max..." Gwen trails off, attempting and failing to find the right words to say.

"I've tried everything. I covered Space Kid in honey and let loose a bunch of bees, I set up thumbtacks on Nurf's seat at lunch, I set off fireworks in the Mess Hall, I set the flag pole on fire!" Max continues to get louder and more heated with every word until he's practically yelling, now finally making eye contact with his counselors, "She hasn't even told me off! She didn't even notice that I was standing next to her, TALKING TO HER, FOR THIRTY MINUTES BEFORE I EVEN STARTED DOING ANYTHING BAD!"

Angry tears were welling up in his eyes but he blinked them away almost as quickly as they came. But his counselors saw. They were stunned into silence.

"Max-" David tries to speak once he recovers from his shock.

"Why do you care?" Max asks suddenly with an exhausted look that pierces through the young adult's hearts.

"What?" David questions, he's not entirely sure that he can say anything to make this better but he'll be damned if he isn't going to do anything about getting that woman as far away from Max as possible so she can't ever make him look this miserable ever again.

"You're not supposed to care," Max says through gritted teeth, angrily glaring at his shoe once again, trying so very hard to hold back tears. "My mom doesn't care, my teachers never cared, the school nurse never cared, my dad, didn't care when he PUT ME IN THE FUCKING HOSPITAL AND THEN LEFT! SO WHY DO YOU CARE ABOUT ME WHEN NO ONE ELSE EVER HAS!? Not even my parents! So why you!?"

Max locks eyes with David, half angry and half frantic.

"You're way too fucking happy in a world that's so fucking painful. Why do you always look on the bright side? Why do you put up with me? Why the fuck do you tell me I'm doing a good job or look at me!? WHY ARE YOU SO NICE TO ME!? WHY ARE YOU PROUD OF ME WHEN I TRY MY BEST!? WHY DO YOU HUG ME AND RUFFLE MY HAIR!? WHY DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHEN I'M UPSET!?" Max screams, frantically pulling at his hair and sobbing, unable to hold it all in anymore. "WHY DON'T YOU IGNORE ME!? WHY DON'T YOU HIT ME WHEN I'M BEING AN ASSHOLE!? WHY DON'T YOU LOCK ME UP IN A ROOM FOR DAYS ON END SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH ME!? WHY DON'T YOU TYE ME UP TO A TREE WHEN IT'S FREEZING COLD OUTSIDE!? WHY DO YOU WASTE FOOD ON ME!? WHY DON'T YOU HATE ME!?"

Max was hyperventilating at this point and frantically looking around the room as if the crack in the wood flooring held the answers to his questions and pulling at his hair.

And holy shit, they did not expect it to be this bad.

David envelopes Max in a hug and pulls his hands away from his hair, cradling him in his lap as Max held onto the front of the man's shirt as if his life depended on it.

"Max, kid, breathe," Gwen says in a tone that she hopes is comforting (It is) as she smushes her side against David to knead her hands through Max's thick hair in an attempt to calm him down. "Breathe, in and out, with David."

She looks expectantly at David and he nods as he begins to take long, slow, and exaggerated breaths.

"You're gonna be okay, kiddo. You're gonna be okay." David soothed as Max finally calmed down and slumped his tired body in David's hold.

"You're not supposed to... hug me and tell me it's gonna be okay. You're not supposed to..." Max mumbles tiredly.

"You're right, bud. Your parents are supposed to, but it seems that you got stuck with some pretty bad ones so I'm just going to have to do it instead because I care about you. I care about you because I love you and so does Gwen and Neil and Nikki and all of the other campers." David explains softly.

Max wraps his arms around David's torso as hard as he can, which isn't very hard because he's absolutely exhausted, beginning to sob again because all he's ever wanted was someone to care about him.

"Yeah, even the Quarter Master and the platypus love you," Gwen says with a dry note of humor, a horrible attempt at a joke to lighten the mood, but it works and broken laughter comes from the small boy and David and Gwen sadly note that this is the happiest they've ever seen him.

**Author's Note:**

> DAVID IS GOING TO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF MAX'S MOM AND GWEN IS NOT GOING TO ATTEMPT TO HOLD BACK THE MONSTROSITY THAT IS DAVID WHEN HE'S MAD.
> 
> Anyways thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed! <3


End file.
